That's the question on many people's minds in Canada. It has to do with irresponsible governance, a failure to act as a steward of important resources, a denial of scientific fact and the mega-pipeline projects that are giving way to one of the world's most dangerous carbon bombs.

But Directly Affected is a story that is bigger than pipelines (at the core of it, it's actually not really a story about pipelines).

Most simply, if you breathe air, drink water, or pay taxes — this story is for you. It's about you.

And the ending to this story will either be dystopian — or it will be tremendous, beautiful and hopeful.

It very well could be the story of Canada finally stepping up and into a clean energy future, and a far more equitable society.

In two days, we begin the next step in making Directly Affected. We're travelling coast-to-coast seeking to capture powerful stories of innovation, activism and resilience and we're engaging communities in deeper conversations by screening our current cut of the film.

We won't be back until the end of July: and then we're cutting a whole new version of the original short film that you can screen. Sound good? Read on.

Directly Affected began with the need of a community to have their voices amplified. Last Summer, we received $10,000 from the vote-to-fund platform Telus STORYHIVE and travelled along the route of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline to give voice back to individuals and communities not being heard by an onerous review process and decision makers in Ottawa.

Now, we're on a similar journey. Except this time, we're travelling the route of the proposed Energy East pipeline to turn our film into a national story and we're giving it back to communities to screen on September 22, 2015.

And, oh yeah, we're also producing a web series along the way called #WhereWeLive.

Where We Live opening title card.

If we can raise our funding goal of $24,000, then we can finish Directly Affected. If we don't, you won't get the perks on the campaign (like a Directly Affected Tee printed by Fairware!), and we might not be able to finish the film before Canada's next election.

Unfortunately, our goal just isn't enough for us to do everything that we know we must do in order to heal the political divide around Canada's tar sands (for this, we need everyone). That's what we're aiming for, because media is important in affecting our behaviour. And, media making is expensive, as well as travel. It takes a lot of time to tell a complete story, and to pull on your heart strings (we do that because we have the truth on our side, unlike advertising campaigns by big oil companies and Canada's federal government).

Luckily, we've been supported by Lush Cosmetics and Patagonia to get where we are today with the project. But we've also planned a couple of great stretch goals that will create huge impact:

If we reach $30,000, the film gets even better with translations and captions (in multiple languages), a composer, and animated segments.

With $40,000, we can put our research into an educational component that accompanies the film: a booklet, articles and fact sheet. Plus, we'll be able to market and distribute Directly Affected in film festivals, pay for online advertising, and get it into schools.

At the $50,000 mark, we'll be able to do something we've been dreaming of for a long time: a fully interactive web platform that is content-rich and connects many communities and regional issues across Canada. This will be a game-changer for audiences viewing the film.

For another 10k, we can produce #WhereWeLive content throughout the fall, visit more places in the Pacific Northwest directly affected, and tell more stories. We'll also be able to drop three "mind bombs" on the internet (animated micro-video content) that will seriously have an impact leading up to the National Energy Board decision on Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline in January.

Finally, for $75,000, we'll begin research and development on the feature film concept that will take us across the world to discover what Canada must to do build a better, more resilient economy.

That's why we need your help. It started with people seeking a way to amplify their voice. Now, we need you to help us continue to tell the story of what exactly those individuals and communities were speaking about—a liveable future—and that which puts it all risk.

Please, contribute to the campaign and tell others why you've supported media making that matters.